The case for making ‘Late Game’ a permanent Fortnite game mode

When Epic collaborated with Fortnite pro and streamer, Bugha, they developed the best competitive offshoot the game has ever seen: Late Game.

For those who don’t know, this is a smaller version of the official game, where players drop into a closing circle with predetermined loot to fight it out with one another.

The mode is meant to simulate the late-game experience of a tournament. It doesn’t do that right now – it’s a W-key fest as you might expect – but that doesn’t mean Epic can’t tweak it to get closer to a true competitive simulation. We’ll talk more about that down below.

This was another Epic Games addition to Fortnite that noone knew they wanted until it got here, and I think it should permanently stay in the rotation. Here’s my case for keeping Late Game around.

Epic Games

Fun > Everything

Epic have gone back and forth when it comes to additions to Fortnite. At times, it feels like they add too much to the game at once – hurting the competitive side of the game. Other times, they do the opposite. The base game gets stale while the competitive meta is in its best state.

For a while, at the beginning of Fortnite’s lifespan, they seemed to prioritize fun over everything else. Competitive players didn’t like it, but it made for interesting week after interesting week for pub stompers.

Arena Late Game is, very simply, fun. It’s some of the most fun I’ve had playing Fortnite in a while. 

I draw similarities between this mode and Rebirth in Warzone – both smaller versions of larger BRs. Hopefully, if Epic take a page out of the Warzone handbook, they keep it around in its own playlist indefinitely.

Epic Games

Making Late-Game competitive

There’s no denying that “Late Game” isn’t a true late-game simulation. In a real tournament, people actually want to win. How can we make this LTM have the same feeling?

Well, it would probably start by making the base Arena Mode have more significance to regular players. Epic have been taking steps in the right direction on that front but it’s still not where it needs to be.

Epic could add more paid Late Game tournament modes, they could add some cosmetic rewards for reaching a particular number of wins in the mode, and they can tie Late Game to your Arena Points.

This might not solve all of the competitive issues with Late Game, but it could make players care enough to stop W-keying everyone who breathes. The more competitive the mode is, the more people will take it seriously

Epic Games

Epic have shown that they’re willing to expand the base Fortnite game mode through LTMs. In my opinion, Late Game is the most fun and practical mode they’ve ever released, and it should be here to stay.

Late Game will probably cycle out of the LTM rotation within a week or two, but it’s such a hit that it has to come back at some point. We can only hope that Epic eventually see the light and add it to the Fortnite lineup permanently, similar to what Warzone did with Rebirth.